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Mar. 18th, 2026 10:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsBecause Becky Mahoney and I know each other, I boosted a Bluesky giveaway for her upcoming vampire novel Thrall (coming out next month!) in the spirit of friendship and then was somewhat surprised to discover that I had in fact won the giveaway -- surprised but delighted, obviously, since I've loved all of her previous books even when they weren't LUCY CENTRIC DRACULA RIFFS!! focused around a COLLEGE PIRATE RADIO STATION!!!
The central character of Thrall is Lucy Easting, who has just transferred into beautiful, isolated, mountainside Rollins University from community college, in a bid to get away from her stressed and depressed mother and live a life she's excited about for a change.
Alas! her first college party results in a couple of neck puncture marks, a marked tendency to experience severe migraines in sunlight, and a tragic susceptibility to the ominous vampire voice in her head that occasionally takes over her consciousness and directs her towards uncharacteristic action.
Fortunately! the college is full of prospective allies who are willing to take a chance on Lucy despite her regrettable thrall situation, including but not limited to the host of the local college late-night radio show, who has been a target of the vampire since her sophomore year and has been using the airwaves to try and fight back; Lucy's RA, a determined young woman with very nice arms, who came to the school to investigate after a terrible fate befell her high school ex-boyfriend Jonathan; and the very nice, normal party host who has no previous vampire experience but feels just terrible about the whole situation and is not about to relinquish responsibility for sorting the situation out! it was her party!!
It's a really charming book on a number of levels, but my favorite thing about it as a Dracula riff specifically is how much it's thematically invested in Lucy as a side character -- the narrative is consistently very clear that the vampire is not particularly interested in Lucy; he's obsessed with Athena the radio show host and everything else he's doing is part of his elaborate cat-and-mouse game with her, including incidentally overturning Lucy's life as a by-the-by -- and how Lucy makes the book her own story anyway by sheer force of determination not to be cut out of it. Lucy's energy really drives the book: she wants to live, and she wants to live a life on her own terms, and she's not about to let one horrible encounter take that away from her.
Also, I think it's not a huge spoiler ( but I guess is technically a mild one: lesbians! )
The central character of Thrall is Lucy Easting, who has just transferred into beautiful, isolated, mountainside Rollins University from community college, in a bid to get away from her stressed and depressed mother and live a life she's excited about for a change.
Alas! her first college party results in a couple of neck puncture marks, a marked tendency to experience severe migraines in sunlight, and a tragic susceptibility to the ominous vampire voice in her head that occasionally takes over her consciousness and directs her towards uncharacteristic action.
Fortunately! the college is full of prospective allies who are willing to take a chance on Lucy despite her regrettable thrall situation, including but not limited to the host of the local college late-night radio show, who has been a target of the vampire since her sophomore year and has been using the airwaves to try and fight back; Lucy's RA, a determined young woman with very nice arms, who came to the school to investigate after a terrible fate befell her high school ex-boyfriend Jonathan; and the very nice, normal party host who has no previous vampire experience but feels just terrible about the whole situation and is not about to relinquish responsibility for sorting the situation out! it was her party!!
It's a really charming book on a number of levels, but my favorite thing about it as a Dracula riff specifically is how much it's thematically invested in Lucy as a side character -- the narrative is consistently very clear that the vampire is not particularly interested in Lucy; he's obsessed with Athena the radio show host and everything else he's doing is part of his elaborate cat-and-mouse game with her, including incidentally overturning Lucy's life as a by-the-by -- and how Lucy makes the book her own story anyway by sheer force of determination not to be cut out of it. Lucy's energy really drives the book: she wants to live, and she wants to live a life on her own terms, and she's not about to let one horrible encounter take that away from her.
Also, I think it's not a huge spoiler ( but I guess is technically a mild one: lesbians! )
陈情令 | The Untamed: Moments of Revelation by Meyari
Mar. 18th, 2026 07:10 pmranalore posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fancakeFandom: 陈情令 | The Untamed
Pairings/Characters: Jiang Cheng & Wei Wuxian & Jiang Yanli, Jiang Cheng/Nie Huaisang (background), Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji (background), Lan Xichen, Jin Zixuan, Meng Yao, Wen Zhuliu
Rating: R for Graphic Depictions of Violence and Major Character Death
Length: 133,987 words
Creator Link:![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
meyari
Themes: Siblings, Time Travel Fix-It, Women Being Awesome, Trauma & Recovery
Summary: As the Jianghu collapses around Jiang Cheng's ears, his borrowed core begins to fail. Wei Wuxian has one final trick up his sleeve, though the only person who can use it is the one person who has no core of his own: Jiang Cheng. Time travel may be impossible for everyone else, but Jiang Cheng has one slender, delicate chance to save the entire world. Of course he has to take it no matter what the cost might be.
Reccer's Notes: As soon as I saw this month's theme, I thought of this story. While time travel fix-its and core reveal fix-its are both common in the fandom, this story handles both tropes in ways I haven't seen any other story do. It also features amazing original characters, including several badass women of the Meishan Yu sect, and gives Jiang Yanli one of the best storylines I've ever seen. The rating is because there's still a war, and some characters still die, but it's a far different war, and they are far different deaths.
I do feel like I have to provide a caveat that this could use a serious line edit, by which I mean there is a grammatical or spelling error in nearly every sentence. It really says something that, despite this, I couldn't put the story down, and devoured all 100K+ words of it in the space of two nights.
Fanwork Links: Moments of Revelation (please note that this is archive-locked to AO3-registered users)
Pairings/Characters: Jiang Cheng & Wei Wuxian & Jiang Yanli, Jiang Cheng/Nie Huaisang (background), Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji (background), Lan Xichen, Jin Zixuan, Meng Yao, Wen Zhuliu
Rating: R for Graphic Depictions of Violence and Major Character Death
Length: 133,987 words
Creator Link:
Themes: Siblings, Time Travel Fix-It, Women Being Awesome, Trauma & Recovery
Summary: As the Jianghu collapses around Jiang Cheng's ears, his borrowed core begins to fail. Wei Wuxian has one final trick up his sleeve, though the only person who can use it is the one person who has no core of his own: Jiang Cheng. Time travel may be impossible for everyone else, but Jiang Cheng has one slender, delicate chance to save the entire world. Of course he has to take it no matter what the cost might be.
Reccer's Notes: As soon as I saw this month's theme, I thought of this story. While time travel fix-its and core reveal fix-its are both common in the fandom, this story handles both tropes in ways I haven't seen any other story do. It also features amazing original characters, including several badass women of the Meishan Yu sect, and gives Jiang Yanli one of the best storylines I've ever seen. The rating is because there's still a war, and some characters still die, but it's a far different war, and they are far different deaths.
I do feel like I have to provide a caveat that this could use a serious line edit, by which I mean there is a grammatical or spelling error in nearly every sentence. It really says something that, despite this, I couldn't put the story down, and devoured all 100K+ words of it in the space of two nights.
Fanwork Links: Moments of Revelation (please note that this is archive-locked to AO3-registered users)
Magic 8 Ball says, cloudy, try again
Mar. 18th, 2026 03:03 pmrhiOn the plus side, I slept well, food is made and caffeine at hand, and it turns out that yes, the new(ish) vacuum is good enough to pick up instant coffee. On the minus side, this is probably a migraine because I'm trying to get all the things done, at the same time, and yes, while trying to get caffeine, I dropped the bottle of instant espresso.
It's cleaned up, I'm eating and have taped the top of that bottle back together, and no glass on the floor: good enough.
It's cleaned up, I'm eating and have taped the top of that bottle back together, and no glass on the floor: good enough.
Man, I do not miss menses, but I don't know that migraines was a great trade, here.
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
Wednesday saw a HERON standing in the eco-pond!!!!
Mar. 18th, 2026 04:21 pmoursinWhat I read
Finished Victoria's Secret - still slightly meh about it - could possibly have engaged a bit with a longer history of 'Monarch has favourite/s who are not Quite Our Sort', even if historically the gender issues in play here were different??? Also had a bit of feeling that QV was not entirely NOT treating John Brown in the light of A Very Large Faithful Dog devoted to her to which she was also devoted and which she insisted on imposing upon people who hated dogs.... Thought it was good on her awful childhood, though.
Clare Pollard, The Modern Fairies (2024) - telling stories about women telling stories, i.e. the precieuses at the time of Louis XIV, the stories they were telling and their stories and how those reflected one another.
Susan Ertz, Woman Alive (1935), my attention having been drawn towards it by a mention of its having been republished. I have a copy of the first edition, Ertz being one of the early C20th middlebrow women novelists in whom I have had an interest going back decades, but not sure whether I ever actually read this. It is sf Of The Period, in which someone is cast forward into The Future by sciento-psychic means, this is his account. And okay, is not (unlike a cluster from around the same time) about the dystopic crushing iron heel of fascistic misogyny, is about the dysoptic outcome of a war in which germ warfare has killed all the women. Except one who has survived courtesy of mad scientist neighbour's experimental process.
Points for her being a young women of education, character, and something of a backstory conveying a certain cynicism, but she still concedes to the agenda of marrying and going forth and having babbyz, though I think everyone is a bit optimistic that she will pop out multiple daughters and even so, we do not think this will Save Humanity. (Also, no-one seems to suggest she should have Plurality of Mates, surely that would be advisable?) But then it just stops with our narrator pinging back to his present day.
Most recent Literary Review
Muriel Spark, A Far Cry from Kensington (1988), which I really enjoyed and am now looking out for more of hers - think I have copies of some somewhere?
Robert Barnard, Death of a Literary Widow (1979)- everybody in it is a bit of a caricature, not just the American academic.
Emily Tesh, The Incandescent (2025), because I have been hearing well of it. Pretty good, but is it just having Read A Lot that made one character look like a honking parade of red flags?
On the go
I think I am actually giving up on I Am A Woman, I don't think Being A Sad Lesbian is enough to provide a rounded character? Maybe it gets better?
Nibbling at various things. Realise that it is 2 weeks to next Pilgrimage discussion and I do not want to read Honeycomb too far in advance.
Up next
No idea.
The Secrets of Story
Mar. 18th, 2026 12:27 pmmarycatelli posting in booksThe Secrets of Story: Innovative Tools for Perfecting Your Fiction and Captivating Readers by Matt Bird
A how-to-write book. Despite the title, mostly for TV and movie writers, down to and including explaining that a prose writer has it easier.
Nevertheless, some useful ideas, particularly about irony, such as the character's flaw should be a flip-side of a strength to add reason to not want to fix it. None of the jargon was impenetrable.
A how-to-write book. Despite the title, mostly for TV and movie writers, down to and including explaining that a prose writer has it easier.
Nevertheless, some useful ideas, particularly about irony, such as the character's flaw should be a flip-side of a strength to add reason to not want to fix it. None of the jargon was impenetrable.
The Secrets of Story
Mar. 18th, 2026 12:27 pmmarycatelli posting in book_loveThe Secrets of Story: Innovative Tools for Perfecting Your Fiction and Captivating Readers by Matt Bird
A how-to-write book. Despite the title, mostly for TV and movie writers, down to and including explaining that a prose writer has it easier.
Nevertheless, some useful ideas, particularly about irony, such as the character's flaw should be a flip-side of a strength to add reason to not want to fix it. None of the jargon was impenetrable.
A how-to-write book. Despite the title, mostly for TV and movie writers, down to and including explaining that a prose writer has it easier.
Nevertheless, some useful ideas, particularly about irony, such as the character's flaw should be a flip-side of a strength to add reason to not want to fix it. None of the jargon was impenetrable.
Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan community
Mar. 18th, 2026 11:32 amoceangrey posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_community_promowarrington_runcorn_ntdp is a new fan-run community focused on the music of electronic project Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan.Anyone is free to join, even those who have never listened before! Although if that is you, I'd recommend checking out the project's Soundcloud, Bandcamp, and Youtube to get acquainted :D
Discussion on the community will include, but is not limited to, avourite songs/albums/album artwork, physical media, how you discovered the music, recommendations for similar music, etc.
The current rules are pretty standard: no harassment/discrimination against any other Dreamwidth users; no NSFW/explicit content unless it's directly connected to the community's theme; and please keep any posts/comments on topic as much as possible. Anything else can be decided on in the future.
I (
oceangrey) am the current only moderator/admin, but if anyone else wants a similar role just message me or comment on the community's pinned post!
Withnail & I communities
Mar. 18th, 2026 09:35 amoceangrey posting in dw_community_promowithnailandi is a community for everything related to Withnail & I (1987). Fanworks/recommendations, meta/discussions, whatever, all are welcome here! Another related community is withnailandinsfw, for any more explicit fanworks/discussions.Although not entirely new (made in October 2025) both communities are unused as of yet, due to most of the fandom being on other platforms. Feel free to join whether you're a casual fan, or if it's your favourite film of all time, or if you're somewhere in between!
withnailandi is open for anyone to join, and withnailandinsfw is set to administrator-approved due to the community's content.A handful of random One Piece Live Action thoughts ...
Mar. 18th, 2026 01:32 amsholio... resulting from making that vid this past week.
One thing that I was thinking about is the sheer challenge of costuming this show, because most of the costumes are directly patterned after their manga/anime looks. So whereas most of the time in most shows, you can probably source the characters' everyday wear from basic mass-produced clothes or even vintage or secondhand shops, aside from really specific superhero costumes or whatever, this is more like a historical production in that everything has to be made from scratch. (Only, if possible, worse, because unless you're doing an unusual time period, normally you could probably go to the warehouses of Elizabethan or Regency costumes or Roman togas that no doubt exist.)
Here, even the relatively normal clothes are directly echoing something specific, like the patterns on distinctive shirt, or dress.
Anyway, it's just interesting to think about. Even the simplest costumes are more complicated than they seem, because it's not just an unusual shirt that the costume people found at a vintage shop; they're having to explicitly pattern-match or color-match or style-match items from the manga and anime.
( More specific spoilers about characters' fighting skills )
One thing that I was thinking about is the sheer challenge of costuming this show, because most of the costumes are directly patterned after their manga/anime looks. So whereas most of the time in most shows, you can probably source the characters' everyday wear from basic mass-produced clothes or even vintage or secondhand shops, aside from really specific superhero costumes or whatever, this is more like a historical production in that everything has to be made from scratch. (Only, if possible, worse, because unless you're doing an unusual time period, normally you could probably go to the warehouses of Elizabethan or Regency costumes or Roman togas that no doubt exist.)
Here, even the relatively normal clothes are directly echoing something specific, like the patterns on
season 2 character's
Tashigi'sanother season 2 character's
Miss Valentine's lemon-patternedAnyway, it's just interesting to think about. Even the simplest costumes are more complicated than they seem, because it's not just an unusual shirt that the costume people found at a vintage shop; they're having to explicitly pattern-match or color-match or style-match items from the manga and anime.
( More specific spoilers about characters' fighting skills )
Babylon 5 fic: Green Growing Things
Mar. 17th, 2026 10:38 pmsholioSo this is apparently the latest installment in an accidental series about gardens. This is based off some bits in hauntinghouses's lovely post-canon fixit Out of the Woods (not necessary to read before this one, but you should read if you like Londo & G'Kar stuff; it's lovely, with some neat Narn worldbuilding), which was in turn inspired by one of my older ones. This is not meant to be in direct continuity with either hauntinghouses' fic or the other fic it was inspired by; it's off happily living its best life in its own AU 'verse.
Green Growing Things (Londo & G'Kar, 2800 wds)
It is post-canon, and there are gardens.
( Fic also posted under the cut )
( Bonus extras from Tumblr )
Green Growing Things (Londo & G'Kar, 2800 wds)
It is post-canon, and there are gardens.
( Fic also posted under the cut )
( Bonus extras from Tumblr )
Pride and Prejudice: The Rich Are Always Respectable by Elizabeth (anghraine)
Mar. 17th, 2026 09:38 pmbeatrice_otter posting in fancakeFandom: Pride and Prejudice
Pairings/Characters: Darcy/Elizabeth, Georgiana, Jane/Bingley
Rating: Teen
Length: 75k
Creator Links:anghraine
Theme: siblings, old fandoms, book fandoms, novel length, AU, family,
Summary: Without Lady Catherine's interference, a family catastrophe throws Darcy and Elizabeth down wildly different paths.
Reccer's Notes: This series is very much Darcy/Elizabeth, but they spend a lot of it going down separate paths. And on those separate paths, their closest relationships are with their siblings--Darcy and Georgiana, Jane and Elizabeth. I love the care that is taken with all of the different relationships in this story.
Fanwork Links: The Rich Are Always Respectable
Pairings/Characters: Darcy/Elizabeth, Georgiana, Jane/Bingley
Rating: Teen
Length: 75k
Creator Links:
Theme: siblings, old fandoms, book fandoms, novel length, AU, family,
Summary: Without Lady Catherine's interference, a family catastrophe throws Darcy and Elizabeth down wildly different paths.
Reccer's Notes: This series is very much Darcy/Elizabeth, but they spend a lot of it going down separate paths. And on those separate paths, their closest relationships are with their siblings--Darcy and Georgiana, Jane and Elizabeth. I love the care that is taken with all of the different relationships in this story.
Fanwork Links: The Rich Are Always Respectable